At the Spring Lake Board of Commissioners’ work session Monday, board members prioritized funding while approving a stormwater grant, discussed Community Development Block Grant funds and examined their roles in the town’s annual audit process.
The town also endorsed the $15,037,768 balanced budget, including $8,959,006 from the general fund and the rest from three enterprise funds — sanitation, stormwater and water/sewer. The budget was adopted by the N.C. Local Government Commission earlier on Monday.
The N.C. Local Government Commission assumed financial control of the town’s finances in October 2021 amid concerns about budget deficits, fiscal disarray and an investigation into missing money. This is the third year that the LGC has adopted the budget for Spring Lake.
Approval of stormwater grant
What happened: The town accepted a $750,000 Spring Lake Flash Flood Mitigation grant from GoldenLEAF, a state nonprofit organization that provides grants to local government entities, to improve storm drain infrastructure in the Deerfield subdivision. Deanna Rosario, stormwater and sustainability administrator, presented the project, which will begin Sept. 1. The stormwater infrastructure was damaged during Hurricanes Matthew and Florence.
Why it matters: Approximately 11 houses will be affected and 15 others will be indirectly affected by construction between 408 Wapiti Drive and the outfall behind 434 Wapiti Drive, according to Rosario.
According to Mayor Kia Anthony, who lives in that area, this is a project that residents are looking forward to in their neighborhood.
“We have some of the worst drainage issues in town,” Anthony said. “The residents on Wapiti are going to be ecstatic.”
What’s next: Now that the board has accepted the resolution to approve the project and accept the funds, the N.C. Local Government Commission will be asked to review it for approval and acceptance. An informational meeting for residents will be held on Aug. 1 and a Request for Proposal will be sent to engineering firms. The project is estimated to end before June 1, 2025.
Annual audit process
What happened: The board discussed the annual audit process “to ensure transparency, accountability, and compliance with financial regulations,” according to the agenda item. In May, Anthony and Town Clerk Carly Autry attended a North Carolina League of Municipalities financial management training and shared the information with the board during Monday’s work session.
Why it’s important: Town Manager Jon Rorie said he had been informed by the N.C. Local Government Commission that Raleigh-based accounting firm Cherry Bekaert would be able to work with the town directly on the 2022 audit.
What’s next: Rorie said a new finance director will be starting by July 15. He said that the 2022 audit would be completed in December and the 2023 audit would be started as soon as possible.
Spring Lake’s last audit was completed in June 2020. In June 2021, the Local Government Commission waived the audit requirement after declaring that the finances were in such disarray that they were not auditable.
According to the town’s fiscal accountability agreement, the town failed to submit audits on time for five years in a row and had significant financial control deficiencies. Contracted financial staff through the LGC have worked to unravel years of mismanagement while the board and town staff have worked to create internal policies and procedures with an audit committee.
“That’s what they said we needed to do when we hired professional staff,” Anthony said.
In other news
The board voted to endorse the adopted Town of Spring Lake budget ordinance for fiscal year 2024-25. The N.C. Local Government Commission voted to approve the budget earlier at 1:30 p.m. on Monday after hosting a public hearing on June 10.
The board also briefly discussed Cumberland County Community Development Block Grant funds, which provides resources to low- to moderate-income communities through the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. Devon Newton, community services manager for Cumberland County, will give a formal presentation on July 8 on how the town can participate with future housing and development projects. Newton was not present for the discussion.
The Spring Lake Appearance Commission and the Spring Lake Military and Veterans Advisory Committee will meet on Tuesday night to brainstorm ideas for the Special Forces-themed mural that will be painted at 412 S. Main St. at the current Stitch-in-Time embroidery shop. This would be the third mural along the newly developed Spring Lake Arts Trail.
According to Commissioner Raul Palacios, there is one vacancy on the Appearance Commission. Applications are available on the town website at townofspringlake.com.
The Spring Lake Board of Commissioners will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting at 6 p.m. July 8 at the Grady Howard Conference Room of the Spring Lake municipal complex.
Jami McLaughlin covers Spring Lake for CityView. She can be reached at jmclaughlin@cityviewnc.com or at 910-391-4870.
